Bearing arrangements comprising two or more rolling bearings which are arranged to cooperate to axially locate a shaft or rotating member are used in a wide variety of different applications, such as motors, wheel hubs, support arrangements for shafts, electric machines, turbines, etc.
Typically, a first rolling bearing is arranged to restrict axial movement in a first axial direction and a second rolling bearings is arranged to restrict axial movement in a second axial direction being opposite to the first axial direction. Furthermore, the rolling bearings cooperate to support both radial and axial forces, as well as over turning moment of the shaft or rotating member during operation.
In order to support a shaft or rotating member in a suitable manner, different bearing arrangement configurations are known which may be adjusted for a given radial and axial load characteristics associated with a particular application. However, known designs of bearing arrangements typically require high manufacturing precision of the bearing raceways and raceway-contacting surfaces of the rolling elements, as well as high precision of the alignment between the rotating member and the housing structures of the rolling bearings at different support points along the rotational axis of the rotating member. Also, the design and complexity of the bearing geometries increase the precision and alignment requirements of the bearings, as well as increasing the mass and cost of material. Also, in order to provide suitable axial location function, the required axial extension of known rolling bearing solutions imposes high space requirements and increased overall weight. Furthermore, known designs give rise to minor material deflections leading to decrease accuracy between relative rotating members and surrounding structures, such as the housing and stator components.